Iraqis thirst for water and power

BAGHDAD – This summer, the third since the fall of Baghdad, has been the worst yet when it comes to basic services. Interruptions to electricity and water supplies - caused by both decay and sabotage - are driving up the frustrations of millions of Iraqis.

While last summer public anger was directed at the US government, today it's as likely to be aimed directly at Iraq's interim government and officials.

Last Sunday in the Shiite town of Samawa 150 miles south of Baghdad, protests over joblessness and limited electricity and water supplies turned into a riot outside the governor's office in which about 1,000 residents overturned and burned a police van. The riot ended when police opened fire, killing one.

The US is in the process of spending about $19 billion on long-term water and electricity projects, but about a quarter of this money has been diverted to security because of the raging insurgency, US officials say. Even when electricity generation is improved at the power plant, transformers and cables are easy insurgent targets, with the net result that less power gets to Iraqi homes.

Iraqi officials said last month that the country would need an estimated $20 billion over the next five years to restore full electric power capacity and keep power flowing to the entire country. Iraqi Electricity Minister Mohsen Shalash seemed confident that Iraq would be able to restore full power within two years and that daily demand - estimated by the US General Accounting Office to reach 8,500 megawatts this summer - will climb to 18,000 megawatts by 2010.

In some of Baghdad's toughest neighborhoods, like the Sunni-dominated Adhamiya, where gun battles and assassinations are common, even large generators, sometimes owned cooperatively by wealthier neighborhoods, have been targeted.

This summer, Mr. Turki says, he's repairing about 20 generators every day, up from about 10 a day last summer. He charges about $20 a pop. But even he says he hopes he'll be out of a job soon.

"We have two problems: the terrorists and the government that is stealing from us," he explains.

"We wouldn't pay - we're fed up with this stuff. The Americans can't fix it and the government is just out for themselves. What did we vote for anyway?"

Source:
CS Monitor

Pay attention to the Last Quote, written in Bold Letters.

When you Read it, things might get a little bit clearer why People are rising up and starting to Fight for Themselves.

The US Does Nothing - the current Iraqi goverment Does Nothig - Who will do Something then?

Remember that, people that are Hungry and Thirsty are also very Angry.

why u dink the insurgents targeted the facilities? because they know it would work against the Americans. the insurgents dont give a dam if it makes the population hot and thirsty as long as its against the Americans and not at the insurgents.

Originally posted by deltaboy
why u dink the insurgents targeted the facilities? because they know it would work against the Americans. the insurgents dont give a dam if it makes the population hot and thirsty as long as its against the Americans and not at the insurgents.

"We have two problems: the terrorists and the government that is stealing from us!"

Something is Rotten in the State of Iraq - you can't expect to have happy and shiny people in a state that is full of political and economical corruption, starting with US Corporations (like Halliburton) that are active in this Area.

Of course, one could ask what justification the US had in targeting these civilian utilities with their "shock and awe" in the first place

o dats real sweet, happy and shiny people. corruption has been goin in Iraq long before the invasion of Iraq. so dont expect the people of Iraq to be happy and shiny under the rule of Saddam.

Originally posted by deltaboy

o dats real sweet, happy and shiny people. corruption has been goin in Iraq long before the invasion of Iraq. so dont expect the people of Iraq to be happy and shiny under the rule of Saddam.

Question:

What EXACTLY is Better today that Saddam's Regime is gone?

Originally posted by Souljah
The US Does Nothing - the current Iraqi goverment Does Nothig - Who will do Something then?

The posted article does not say this anywhere, it does say:

“The Americans can't fix it…”

And that is one opinion. The article does point out:

Interruptions to electricity and water supplies - caused by both decay and sabotage - are driving up the frustrations of millions of Iraqis.

Oh,and there is a political twist, really?:

And here in Baghdad, the militant Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has called for Friday protests against the lack of power and water. This is part of an ongoing campaign to shore up his power base among the urban poor by targeting the failures of his more moderate political opponents, who are now in power.

In a rare statement calling for the protests, Mr. Sadr blamed "the occupier and the people who have traded on their religion and sold their people" for Iraq's problems, an apparent reference to the mainstream Shiite political parties that run the government

How is the above being manipulated and perpetuated:

Even when electricity generation is improved at the power plant, transformers and cables are easy insurgent targets, with the net result that less power gets to Iraqi homes....

...One Adhamiya resident, who asked not to be named, says his community sold their generators after a death threat from local insurgents

And this is no ‘new’ news:

"We have two problems: the terrorists and the government that is stealing from us," he explains...
...Iraq's electricity problems - …- are a combination of a run-down system, war-time damage, and ongoing insurgent sabotage.

Yet capitalism is spreading!

Haider al-Turki grins out from a grease-stained face and shouts to make himself heard over the roar of a portable generator. "I'm making a lot of money thanks to cheap Chinese generators and the terrorists,''

Great find Souljah.

I’m glad you have brought to light the terrible consequences the terrorist attacks of the insurgents have cost the Iraqi's. They have done so much to disrupt the rebuild efforts that they have made the problem worse than ever, even before the war.

We can only hope that the US and the new Iraqi government can stomp out these insurgents so the Iraqi people won’t have to suffer without power or clean water any longer than they have to.

Imagine Souljah, how amazing it would be after 2.5 years of improvement efforts if those foreign fighters were never able to come into Iraq and start the Insurgency foil improvement efforts? I bet the Iraqi infrastructure would be world class by now, at least as good as Slovenia’s!!

Thanks for shedding light on the negative effects of the insurgents actions.


[edit on 12-8-2005 by skippytjc]

Originally posted by Souljah
Question:
What EXACTLY is Better today that Saddam's Regime is gone?

I think the answer lies with your question.
Saddamn's regime is now over. The country will eventually rebuild and reform into something better than under Saddams's rule. What this will eventually be, i don't think anyone can answer yet.

I agree that the Iraqi's have a right to be p***ed off at the way things are.
But when things are rebuilt, and the water/sewage plants are destroyed by insurgents, they have only the idiots to blame who are doing this.
I don't see the coalition forces destroying these kind of plants. I only hear of insurgents doing it.

I could NOT Agree more with this Quote from Another Forum, posted by Another User.

First, it is our fault. We blew up their infrastructure when we invaded their country illegally. It was working before then, in spite of the ten year embargo we imposed (rightfully so) after the Gulf War where Saadam attempted to gain back the lands taken from Iraq by Great Britain to form the nation of Kuwait.

Second, what little power is being generated is being diverted to the Green Zone to cool off the American soldiers posted there (rightfully so) and American contractors (wrongfully so, they are making billions so they should be able to supply their own power).

So the ones who suffer are the Iraqi citizens who we are supposed to be "helping" by treating them as second class citizens in their own country. Yet you think they should be grateful to us for what? Freedom? From what? Rape rooms? They are still there, just manned by Americans instead of Iraqi Baathists. Being killed for no reason? Anywhere from 50,000 to more than 100,000 have died at the hands of both the coalition and rebel forces since the invasion.

Let's not start with all the Corruptions going on in the American Corporations involved in Re-building Iraq and its Infrastructure.

Reconstruction

Today the victors of modern wars no longer rape and pillage as their predecessors did, instead they make extraordinary profits by giving contracts to their favorite companies to rebuild what they have destroyed and then hand the bill to local taxpayers to pay. For example, within days of the American occupation of Iraq, Bechtel of San Francisco, California, was hired to repair the power system, telephone exchanges and hospitals, weeks after multi-billionaire Riley Bechtel, the principal shareholder, was sworn in as a member of President Bush's Export Council to advise the government on how to create markets for American companies overseas.

www.warprofiteers.com...

[edit on 12/8/05 by Souljah]